Drugs left on Irish doorsteps to entice new users

A new, ecstasy-like drug – called ‘snow blow’ – is being left on people’s front doors in Dublin, according to the Sunday Independent, in a bid to snare new users.

The drug, which is illegal, is called mephedrone, and is being given for free to young professionals around the city, according to the paper.

The Sunday Independent quotes Mel MacGiobun, the co-ordinator of the North Dublin Inner City Drugs Task Force, who said that if "a suspicious psychoactive substance like this" is left at your door, it should be reported to the gardai, and claimed that "It is a very worrying trend that inner city residents in private apartment complexes are being targeted with suspicious samples of so called 'snow', left outside the doors of their homes. There is no way of knowing what a small mound of white powder left on a piece of paper might be, it could be anything -- arsenic, mephedrone or some other synthetic drug."

‘Snow blow’ was made illegal by Mary Harney, the minister for health, in May. Prior to this, the drugs were available legally through so-called headshops in Dublin.

Since the closing of the headshops, snow blow has gone underground, according to MacGiobun. And whereas the formerly legal high once cost between €15 and €20 a gram, it now costs nearly three times as much.

Already linked to at least 37 deaths in the UK and Ireland alone, MacGiobun told the Sunday Independent.